Week in images: 17 - 21 May 2021
Friday, 21 May 2021 12:10
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Week in images: 17 - 21 May 2021
Discover our week through the lens
Landing on Mars is difficult, often fails, and will never be risk-free
Friday, 21 May 2021 11:53 Write a comment
China's rover Zhurong, named after the mythological fire god, successfully touched down on Mars on May 14—the first time that China has successfully landed a rover on the red planet.
On May 19, China's National Space Administration issued the first images the rover had taken on Mars.
After a summer of Mars launches in 2020, and with 2021 shaping up to be a successful one for landers and orbiters, it might seem like landing on Mars is routine.
Yet to understand why a first successful landing is such a huge achievement, we need to look back at the complicated history and legacy of landing on Earth's smaller neighbor.
Seven minutes of terror
"Mars is hard" has become a meme now, thrown around during Mars landings. It's also terrifyingly true. Three things make Mars landings difficult—the planet's gravity, Mars' atmosphere and our distance from the red planet.
FIRST PHOTOS FROM THE CHINESE MARS ROVER ZHURONG IS OUT! pic.twitter.com/6K8RQQqjPy
— Cosmic Penguin (@Cosmic_Penguin) May 19, 2021
Mars is less massive than Earth, but its atmosphere is also perilously thin.
Swarms of robots could dig underground cities on Mars
Friday, 21 May 2021 11:18 Write a comment
Underground habitats have recently become a focal point of off-planet colonization efforts. Protection from micrometeorites, radiation and other potential hazards makes underground sites desirable compared to surface dwellings. Building such subterranean structures presents a plethora of challenges, not the least of which is how to actually construct them. A team of researchers at the Delft University of Technology (TUD) is working on a plan to excavate material and then use it to print habitats. All that would be done with a group of swarming robots.
The idea stems from a grant opportunity posted by the European Space Agency. Students at the Robotic Building lab (RB) at TU Delft, led by Dr. Henriette Bier, were enthusiastic to participate in the challenge that focuses on in-situ resource utilization for off-Earth construction.
New ExoMars parachute ready for high altitude drop
Friday, 21 May 2021 11:00 Write a comment
A series of ground-based high-speed extraction tests confirm the readiness of a new and upgraded parachute and bag system for a high-altitude drop test in early June, part of critical preparations to keep the ExoMars 2022 mission on track for its next launch window.
ESA awards study contracts for lunar communications and navigation systems
Friday, 21 May 2021 10:39 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency has issued contracts to two European industry groups to begin concept studies of lunar satellite systems that would provide communications and navigation services.
ESA announced the awards May 20 to two consortia, one led by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.
Salts could be important piece of Martian organic puzzle, scientists find
Friday, 21 May 2021 10:31 Write a comment
A NASA team has found that organic salts are likely present on Mars. Like shards of ancient pottery, these salts are the chemical remnants of organic compounds, such as those previously detected by NASA's Curiosity rover. Organic compounds and salts on Mars could have formed by geologic processes or be remnants of ancient microbial life.
Besides adding more evidence to the idea that there once was organic matter on Mars, directly detecting organic salts would also support modern-day Martian habitability, given that on Earth, some organisms can use organic salts, such as oxalates and acetates, for energy.
Arctic sea ice succumbs to Atlantification
Friday, 21 May 2021 08:45 Write a comment
With alarm bells ringing about the rapid demise of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, satellite data have revealed how the intrusion of warmer Atlantic waters is reducing ice regrowth in the winter. In addition, with seasonal ice more unpredictable than ever, ESA’s SMOS and CryoSat satellites are being used to improve sea-ice forecasts, which are critical for shipping, fisheries and indigenous communities, for example.
NASA's S-MODE takes to the air and sea to study ocean eddies
Friday, 21 May 2021 08:24 Write a comment
After being delayed over a year due to the pandemic, a NASA field campaign to study the role of small-scale whirlpools and ocean currents in climate change is taking flight and taking to the seas in May 2021.
Using scientific instruments aboard a self-propelled ocean glider and several airplanes, this first deployment of the Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) mission will dep First modernized SBIRS Missile Warning Satellite under Space Force control
Friday, 21 May 2021 08:24 Write a comment
Following a successful launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Space Force's Space Delta 4 operations team is now "talking" with the fifth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO-5) satellite.
As planned, SBIRS GEO-5-built by Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)-is responding to the Delta's commands. Signal acquisition was confir Metalysis–ESA Grand Challenge: team Malt wins first phase
Friday, 21 May 2021 08:15 Write a comment
Metalysis and ESA announce team Malt as winner of the first phase of the Grand Challenge to develop innovative techniques for future lunar settlements.
Vacancy: Director of Commercialisation, Industry & Procurement
Friday, 21 May 2021 07:20 Write a comment
The European Space Agency is currently looking for a new Director of Commercialisation, Industry & Procurement, to join its executive board and support the Director General, with responsibility for relevant ESA activities and overall objectives.
Lunch with the Moon
Friday, 21 May 2021 07:03 Write a comment
Lunar Eclipse Webcast 26 May 11:30 CEST start
Earth from Space: Los Cabos, Mexico
Friday, 21 May 2021 07:00 Write a comment
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Los Cabos – a municipality on the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula.
Melroy wins strong support at hearing to be NASA deputy administrator
Friday, 21 May 2021 02:10 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The former astronaut tapped by the White House to serve as NASA deputy administrator told senators she supported extending the International Space Station and continuing limitations on the agency’s ability to cooperate with China.
SpaceX's 22nd Commercial Resupply Mission to ISS
Friday, 21 May 2021 02:04 Write a comment
The 22nd SpaceX cargo resupply mission carrying scientific research and technology demonstrations launches to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than June 3. Experiments aboard include studying how water bears tolerate space, whether microgravity affects symbiotic relationships, analyzing the formation of kidney stones, and more.
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